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"'Three years, now, since poor old Emperor Georgios died and Josip III succeeded. Everybody knows what Josip is...'"
-Poul Anderson, The Rebel Worlds IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, January 2010), pp. 367-520 AT CHAPTER TWO, p. 385.
Everybody knows what Charles III is but he is not like Josip!
The passing of a Terran Emperor would be marked on an even grander scale than the passing of the Queen of England. There is a lot happening in Britain right now and not just concerning the death of the monarch. This evening, I attended a packed public meeting in Lancaster Town Hall. One issue discussed was whether trade unions had been right to postpone planned strikes against below inflation pay rises because of the Queen's death.
We contemplate fictional futures but in the context of a living present.
5 comments:
One reason inflation is bad and corrosive -- among many -- is that it naturally makes people want their pay to rise as fast as or faster than prices. But if that starts, prices go up -faster- and you get a wage-price spiral kicking inflation higher.
Inflation is a result of a mismatch of the amount of money and the price of goods. It can result from too much money, or too few goods and services.
It's worse when you have both, of course. Right now we do.
Unfortunately, to increase the supply of goods takes time -- and investment, and inflation discourages investment; if money is depreciating, people spend it as fast as they can.
So alas, the only way to break an inflationary spiral is to deflate demand -- reduce the amount of money available, people buy less (whether they can do without what they can't buy or not) and reduced demand results in a fall in prices.
I was around for the last time that had to be done seriously, in the 80's, and it was not pleasant. But it was unavoidable, if painful: which is incidentally why central banks are deliberately insulated from political pressure. It's so they can do things like that and ignore the screams of (quite genuine) pain in the interim.
Incidentally, I'm working on a new series set in the late 2nd Century CE, in the Roman Empire, while Marcus Aurelius is Emperor.
He was the last of the Five Good Emperors, the Antonines; during that period, none of the Emperors had natural heirs "of the body", so they all adopted successors, men of known character and accomplishments. The transfer of power was fairly seamless, and all of them ruled quite well.
For some reason Roman Emperors had a terrible record raising children with a responsible attitude towards their authority -- much, much worse than later European dynasties.
Will this one be straight historical fiction or is there an "alternative" slant?
"so they all adopted successors, men of known character and accomplishments. The transfer of power was fairly seamless, and all of them ruled quite well."
I have wondered about the plausibility of that system being formalized. That the current emperor would chose a successor who was of 'known character and accomplishments' but *not* closely related to avoid familial bias.
That would have prevented the 'Crisis of the Third Century' & kept the empire stable for longer.
Kaor Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: I agree, the death of a Terran Emperor would be marked on an even grander scale than what was seen for the stately mourning for Elizabeth II. I'm sure the ceremonies for Georgios' state funeral included delegations from some of the non human races ruled by the Empire.
Yes, Charles III is vastly better than Josip!
Mr. Stirling: And I have ZERO confidence our "Josip" has any understanding of the harm done by inflation. Or that the senescent bungler even cares!
I agree the Roman Empire had a terrible record institutionalizing a stable dynastic succession. I would argue the Eastern Roman Empire managed to partially overcome this weakness. There were periods when several dynasties ruled in Constantinople for a century or more.
And I look forward to your series set during Marcus Aurelius' reign!
Ad astra! Sean
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